Week #91- Pedra Branca/Palhoca - Episode #6 - Go Knights!

Go Knights! When I left Vegas the Knights didn´t even exist and now they are in the Stanley Cup?? #lit

This week was good as always. We are working with a bunch of investigators that we have been able to find these last couple weeks. The only frustrating part is that every week we have so many people say that they will come to church and then 4 or 5 show up. But it´s all good. 

Everything is good to go for Teixeira´s baptism this week so we are pretty excited. He´s 60 years old and he´s a big guy and chose me to baptize him so we will see how that goes haha.

Last P-day we hiked up to White Rock which is what our area is named after with a family we are teaching. It was super beautiful. We were able to see the entire island of Florianopolis from where we were.

This week we got to teach a family that is half member half non member. The dad and daughter are members and the mom and other son that just turned 8 aren´t members. She loves church but there have always been some obstacles keeping her from getting baptized but everything should work out this time! We will mark a baptismal date with her and her son this week!

This week I was studying about charity and I learned that we can measure our charity in three ways:

1. How we listen

2. How we give

3. How we love

If we can have true charity in these 3 things we will be so much more like our Savior. I think as a missionary it´s been hard to have charity with listening. I have a bad problem of zoning out when people are talking haha. But always remember that charity is the most important attribute we must have. He said that if we do not have charity we are nothing. 

Have a fantastic week!!! Much love

Elder Scheer

The hills that you can see in the very back is Florianopolis

Week #90- Pedra Branca/Palhoca - Episode #5 - Happy Birthday Elder Silva!

Hey everyone!!

Not any huge news this week but a few cool things happened. Also we have started using Uber a little bit because it saves us a ton of time and it has gotten really big here. 

But this week we got to visit a reference that we received from the church site. His name is Victor and he is 18. He alreadyk new everything about the restoration and had already read all of 1st Nephi. He also went to church yesterday with his mom so we are pretty excited.

But besides that, not much is new. We are working with the people that we have found and trying to help them progress! 

Love y´all!

Elder Scheer

Celebrating Elder Silva's 20th Birthday!

Week #89- Pedra Branca/Palhoca - Episode #4 - Another Week of Miracles!

To start off, a huge miracle... so on Monday we went to mark one of our investigator´s wedding so that he can get baptized. After that he dropped us off at the store to buy food for the week. While we were walking through the store, I saw a guy along with his wife and son that I had taught in Rio Tavares almost a year ago. I´m sure if you look in my blog a little less than a year ago, I talked about Dayane, Lucas, and William. Dayane stopped breathing when she saw me haha. Anyway, I started talking to them and they told me that they had moved a couple months ago and weren´t able to get in touch with the missionaries. They are living in my area now, on the very last street of my area! I was so happy. I know that this isn't a coincidence. All three of them want to be baptized and already know everything about the Church. They just have to get married!! It is not common for the people in Brazil to get married, but I told them that they have to get married and baptized before I go home and they agreed.

Last week we started teaching a really cool family. The dad is into triathlons and stuff and the mom is a scout leader which is really rare here. One thing that I have missed is that most of the people here in Brazil don´t really have hobbies like we do; but they have been super interested and went to Church on Sunday with their 10 year old son, Guilherme. They loved it! 

Ever since I arrived to this area I have been asking Heavenly Father to share the vision He has of this area with me. We have been finding a bunch of new investigators with a ton of potential, so I think I´m understanding what he´s trying to say to me.

This week I was reading a book called ´The Continuous Atonement´ and I came across a phrase that really made me think. It said something like this, ´´It´s not our good works that will earn us a good place in the end, it´s the person we have become through our good works.´´ Many times I just do things because I know I should, but it doesn´t change who I am. It´s easy to change our behavior but to change our nature is much harder. It is only possible to change our nature through The Atonement of Christ. Through lots of prayer and diligence, we can really change and become more like Him.

Sorry for all the rambling. Love you all and Happy Mother´s Day to all the wonderful moms out there!

Elder Scheer

Week #88 - Pedra Branca/Palhoca - Episode #3 - Miracles!

This week was a week of miracles! We worked super hard and we were able to find a few famillies with a lot of potential.

One of the highlights from the week was when we were walking and a guy pulled over in his car and called us over. He said he knows a little about the Mormons but would like to learn more and practice his English. So we marked to go over later that day. He is a policeman and his family is really cool. He has a 15 year old son and a 12 year old daughter. He believes in God but has never had any religion. At the end of the lesson, we knelt down and invited him to pray. When he accepted, his wife looked kind of shocked haha. He prayed and the Spirit was really strong. 

Another cool story: We were walking to our next appointment and a guy came walking by us and stopped us. He said that he has been inactive for a long time but he felt really strongly that he needed to go back to church. He decided to walk to the chapel in the afternoon to try and find us but no one was there. So he walked back to his house but felt like he should take a different path and ran into us! He had the biggest smile on his face and was so happy to be at church on Sunday.

We are having a bunch of great experiences. I am so thankful for the Holy Ghost that guides me daily as a misisonary. It is truly such a huge blessing and we should never take it for granted.

Love you all! Have a great week!!

Elder Scheer

Week #87 - Pedra Branca/Palhoca - Episode #2 - White Rock

Hello everyone! It has been a great, hot week here in Pedra Branca.

The highlight of our week was with a guy named Luis. He was the first guy I contacted here in Pedra Branca. He was super excited to talk to us and he said we could visit him any day so we marked for Tuesday morning. On Tuesday we looked at our map but we could not find his street or even the neighborhood he lives in so we said a prayer and asked the Lord to bless us with someone in our path to help us get there on time. We left our apartment and started walking and about 3 mins later a car pulls up and tells us to get in. He told us that he is an Uber driver but won´t charge us and took us to our appointment! When he dropped us off he told us that he is a return missionary but is inactive. He really was a huge blessing because we would have never found Luis´s house. We taught him the restoration and it went super well. He accepted to be baptized if he receives an answer!

We have a few people with some good potential but we are really working on trying to find more people.

This week we also had mission tour with the President of the Brazil area and it was really good. He really motivated us to work a lot harder. Our mission is needing it!

Hope you all have a great week! 

Elder Scheer

4 Generation Family

Elder Scheer with companion, Elder Silva

Week #86 - Pedra Branca/Palhoca - Episode #1 - Irmão Alexandre!

Irmão! Já que você é a pessoa mais fiel de meu blog queria mandar um grande abraço! Desculpa que tive que sair com tanta pressa! Fui pegou de grande surpresa. Mas por favor, mande um abraço para todo mundo para mim! Obrigado por tudo que fizeram para mim nestes últimos 4 meses. Se cuidam!

Hello everyone! This week has been pretty crazy! On Friday morning at approximately 8:34 am I was studying and the phone rang. President told me I was being emergency transferred to Pedra Branca and the I needed to pack my bags! It was a huge surprise. I was pretty bummed to leave Lages without getting to say goodbye to anyone. I have met so many special people there and I will miss it a ton.

But now I´m here in Pedra Branca in a city called Palhoça! We are basically doing white wash because my comp has only been here a week and a half so he doesn´t know much. But this area has a ton of potential. 

I´ll let you guys know more next week! Love y´all!

Elder Scheer

Irm

Week #85 - Lages - Episode #19

Hey everyone! I have very little time this week because we are about to catch a bus to Florianopolis for a leadership meeting.

The highlight of this week was probably that I got to confirm Debora on Sunday. It was a special experience as always. 

Things are going well with my new companion, Elder Antolini. We have some good plans to help the ward in working more with the members, we are serving in what has been the same Stake for 25 years so something has to change!

One of my favorite scriptures is Mosiah 15:7. It says : ´´Yea even so He shall be lead, crucified, and slain, the flesh becoming subject even unto death, the will of the Son being swallowed up in the will of the Father´´. It´s so incredible how Christ put His will to the side and perfectly followed the will of his Father. I know that as we strive to do that, we will be full of joy and light because our Father in Heaven wants nothing but the absolute best for us, his children.

Have a great week!!

Love, 

Elder Scheer